AG Act	Auditor General Act 2006
Clear opinion (or unqualified opinion)	Auditor General’s opinion expressed when an audit concludes that in all material respects the financial statements, controls and KPIs are presented fairly in accordance with the enabling legislation of the entity, Australian Accounting Standards (including Australian Accounting Interpretations) and the Treasurer’s Instructions, where applicable.
DESE	Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment, formerly functions of the Australian Government Department of Education and Training
DPA	Delivery and Performance Agreements between each TAFE and the Department of Training and Workforce Development for training to be delivered
DTWD	Western Australian Department of Training and Workforce Development
Entity	Term used to describe clients audited by the Auditor General, including departments, statutory authorities, corporations, subsidiaries, cemetery boards and request audits.
EFTSL	Equivalent Full Time Study Load – a measure of universities’ student enrolments.
Financial audit	Work performed to enable an opinion to be expressed regarding a report about financial or performance matters prepared by the party who is accountable for the financial transactions or the performance summary.
FM Act	Financial Management Act 2006
IS	Information systems, primarily computerised systems.
KPI	Key performance indicator – information about service performance or outcome achievement.
Management letter	Letter to entity management that conveys significant audit findings and results of the audit. A copy is also sent to the responsible Minister.
Materiality	Magnitude of an omission or misstatement of accounting or performance information that, in the light of context or circumstances, makes it probable that the judgement of a reasonable person relying on the information would have been changed or influenced.
NCVER	National Centre for Vocational Education Research – conducts student outcomes surveys of VET students, including TAFE students.
OAG	Office of the Auditor General
QILT	Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching – reports universities’ survey results on behalf of the DESE.
Qualified opinion	Auditor General’s opinion expressed when an audit identifies that the financial statements or KPIs are likely to be misleading to users, controls were inadequate, there was material conflict between applicable financial reporting frameworks, or an unavoidable limitation on audit work.
SCH	Student Curriculum Hours – a measure used by TAFEs for student training hours delivered.
Significance	Relative importance in the circumstances, in relation to audit objectives, of an item, event or information, variation or problem the auditor identifies.
STP	State training providers, restructured as TAFEs in April 2016.
TAFEs	TAFEs from April 2016, previously state training providers. An acronym for technical and further education but now used as name for colleges providing vocational education and training.
Treasurer’s Instructions	Prescribed requirements at a minimum level with respect to financial administration that have the force of law and must be observed by public sector entities under the FM Act, which includes the TAFEs.